Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Catching Up

Saturday afternoon, we all headed over to Riverlands to volunteer at the Riverlands 100, catch up with friends and cheer on the runners. It was fun to be at a race comprised almost entirely of people we know, either as RDs, volunteers or runners. Great atmosphere and lots of spirit! Sam and I did the 2:00 to 6:00 pm shift, and towards the end of the four hours, it started to get cold - brrr! Temps would fall into the 30s overnight and a lot of people were caught off guard. Of course, Sam and I were home all warm in bed, but Ryan stayed through several shifts and manned the aid station until 4:00 am when he picked up John to pace him for the final 20 miles. It sounded like it was rough for a while there - as any 100 can be! - but they got it done and John finished in style, as did many others. Always so exciting!!!

Sam and I started off Mother's Day with donuts but then ended up at the doctor's, as she'd been saying her ear was hurting, and sure enough, upon closer inspection it was kind of smelly and I suspected she had an ear infection or swimmer's ear. And hey, nothing says Happy Mother's Day like a trip to the doctor with your kiddo who it turns out has some lovely green pus in her ear 😁😜🙅

Sam was less than thrilled when I tried to get a doctor's waiting room selfie 😂

Ryan got home around the same time we did, although of course he had been up for 24 hours and running ;) And of course, in our typical style, we gave Sam a dose of antibiotics, went out to lunch and then up to Turner for the Riverlands 100 awards ceremony. Such fun acknowledging all the hard work everyone had put in for their Riverlands miles and seeing everyone! Then on the way home, we stopped for ice cream, because Mother's Day warrants donuts and ice cream for sure! 🍦🍩💗 Sam and I had a healthy dinner a bit later, but Ryan just went right to bed 😆😆

First Sunset Sundae visit of the season!

Monday I got up and out for a run on the cart paths and along the Heath. It was an overcast, cool morning and while I didn't see any of the fox kits, I did see one deer, an osprey soaring overhead, plus a pair of Canada Geese and their little babies and a Mallard momma and her little ducks out on the Heath. So cute! (7.0 miles)

Rounded out the day with an XC practice run with the 3/4 milers and milers out on the powerlines (1.1 miles) and then promptly felt exhausted for the rest of the night 😆 I did not manage to get up early enough on Tuesday morning for a run but I did spent a bit of quiet time downstairs drinking coffee and catching up on bills and such before the rest of the house woke up, and honestly sometimes that is just what's needed. 😉

I knew I wanted to put in a solid mileage week this week so that meant this morning there was no snoozing the alarm, it was right up and out of bed before I had a chance to think about it! Headed out into the cool morning air around 5:20am, and enjoyed watching the sky lighten and the sun rise for the first few miles. So pretty.

Sun rising

Sky reflected, the Heath

Lots of greenery coming up and wildflowers blooming out along the trails. This time of year it's dangerous for me to carry my phone on my runs because all I want to do is stop and take photos 😍

First fringed polygala of the season. I love the showy magenta!

False hellebore and ferns growing along the river

Mist rising

Purple Trillium

Goldthread

Rhodora

I had hoped to see the fox kits, and/or find a red eft out after yesterday's rain, but I guess I'll just have to be content with a gorgeous sunrise, a run through the woods along a misty river and the joy of seeing all the spring wildflowers along the trail 😀 (8.2 miles)